Shortly after a 2020 closing, ProLiant Settlement Systems received updated wire instructions via fax. Something felt off. The team called the seller directly. 

"They did not provide those instructions. And so it was very scary. And so we determined that we needed a solution."

That moment set ProLiant on a path that now has CertifID built into the foundation of every title agency they help stand up.

Brooke Sharrard is the Vice President of Operations at ProLiant Settlement Systems, where her team builds a complete title company setup to help mortgage brokers, real estate brokers, and attorneys start and run successful title agencies.

From fax fraud to full-suite prevention

Before CertifID, ProLiant delivered wire instructions to buyers via email — "which is crazy to think about now." Seller proceeds were handled on paper at the closing table, with an ID presented in person and scanned into the file. It worked well enough until it didn't.

The fax incident landed right as the industry was shifting. Remote online notarization was taking off, mail-away closings were becoming common, and transactions were happening with notaries who had no direct relationship with the title agency. The old process wasn't built for any of that. "It became more and more apparent that we needed a better solution to verify the information that was provided to us as the title agency."

Getting the whole team on board

Adopting CertifID wasn't instant for everyone. Staff who had been managing the process themselves for years were reluctant to hand it off. Brooke heard the pushback directly: "Can't we just do it the old school way?”

Her answer was consistent: this is the most efficient way to do this. And as onboarding continued with her team, the hesitation faded. 

"CertifID has done a really nice job of continuing to improve that platform to bring more transparency that kind of got rid of some of that nervousness of letting that process go."

Payoff Protect changed the day-to-day

The biggest operational shift came with Payoff Protect. Before, ordering payoffs meant knowing the specific process for each mortgage lender, a fragmented, time-consuming workflow that was hard to train on and easy to get wrong. CertifID replaced all of that with one centralized system. 

"It is a lot easier to bring in a new employee and train them on how to order payoffs in one centralized system versus having to know all these different processes for each mortgage payoff lender."

For a team that is constantly onboarding people into new title operations, that consistency matters. New employees learn one process, follow it on every deal, and spend less time worrying about whether they've covered every manual verification step. 

"It's definitely allowed them to have more of a sense of relief in knowing that, you know, as long as they're following the process with CertifID, they don't have to worry about, following all these manual steps to verify somebody's identity."

What Brooke tells anyone asking if it's worth it

Brooke doesn't hesitate. "I really don't think you can put a price tag on transaction security. I just think that that's priceless. And really, you're not just paying for the product, you're paying for the team behind it. And I truly believe that CertifID’s team is second to none."

For ProLiant, CertifID isn't an add-on, but a key part of their infrastructure. Every title operation they build starts with it in place—because Brooke knows firsthand what happens when it isn't.

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